Mission Rewind
by Whisper Gypsy
Summary: She didn't mean to do it. Well, that's not true. She meant to go back. She meant to change things. But not like this. Hermione accepts a mission to go back in time and change the past, but will she really be the one in control?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Thank you everyone! I know, another new fic! Well, this is a part of the poll currently active on my profile. Enjoy voting! PS-any specific plot type requests can be pm-ed to me. I'll get back to you as soon as I can!

Disclaimer: Why, this IS mine. Except for the non-muggle elements. So all of it.

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It all began innocently enough, early one rainy Wednesday morning on her way to work. The night before had been just one more example of how hard life after the Final Battle had ended. It began innocently enough: drinks at Ron's flat for the Golden Trio to catch up on the past week or so since they had last gotten together. Ron was still playing for the Canons, Harry had finally finished his last month of Auror acceptance-level training, and would be flooing out for a two-month, no outside contact session of second level Conitioned Auror Training. It was when he had mentioned his CAT that it had happened.

Perhaps it was the firewhiskey. Maybe it was the morose atmosphere the anniversary always entailed. Whatever the cause, Harry's broken wish had haunted her all night, and still this morning. It had been a simple enough statement, whispered into the early hours of the morning, almost into the starless sky as through rebuking it for forbidding wishing on stars anymore.

"Sometimes I wonder how wonderful life could have been, if I wasn't the boy-who-lived. I miss my parents when I do things like this, move up in the ranks, graduate, get a job... Are they proud, do you think?"

Ron had immediately begun insisting that of course they would, and that anyone would be proud to claim "that tosser, Potter," as their son. Hermione hadn't been able to move.

Shock had bled into an overdrive of though and analysis.

Neither boy knew exactly what it was she did on the negative fifth floor of the Ministry, and she didn't encourage questions from them. After all, the newest member of the Unspeakables Time Travel Experimentaion and Analysis Unit could hardly describe her day at work. As far as her boys knew, she was doing research for the different Unspeakable levels. Even with the lure of Unspeakable secrets, her boys had been conditioned to shut off their interest once Hermione mentioned the word "research". All points in her favor.

But today, she would be throwing all of that away for her boys. For everyone, really, but especially for Harry. She just needed to do a little more research for her plan. Luckily she had full access to all records on Time Travel, and full access to all levels of the Historical Archives. Sometimes being a bookworm swot came in handy.

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E/N: So?


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I want to thank everyone for all the wonderful responses I received to the first chapter of this! I hope everyone likes the little plot I've toyed around with here. In other business, I have a month and a half left of school, which means a final Lab report, a seven page paper, three exams and a quiz, plus a field trip tomorrow. Am I the only one seeing way too much cramming going on? Also, I have two weeks until a crazy shift at my retail job for the "Black Friday" craziness that people do After eating too much turkey and mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. :) So, updates and November will not be frequent if occurring, essentially because I have zero writing time. I whipped this chapter up following a quiz in my British Lit class, so y'all got lucky!

Disclaimer: According to the fine print in every original book, Harry Potter and all associated press belong to the illustrious J.K. Rowling. So, my first chapter belongs to her. The rest is up for whoever called dibs first. That would be me, Jo. Deal with it. You can afford the therapy, while I cannot.

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Chapter Two

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Theories of Time Travel. Folds in the Cloth of Time.  Rewriting the Past. The Time Traveling Wizard's Guide to Ye Olde Englishe.  What To Do With a Broken Time-Turner. The Making and Manufacturing of Time Turners. What To Do When You're Running Out of Time.

Hermione sighed. While all were undoubtedly intriguing, none of these tomes provided her with more than the Arithmantic equation for reverse time travel and several postulated formulas for forward travel, as well as for returning trip forward travel—which were two entirely separate things: the future you don't know and the future you left from—as well as heaps of fully unnecessary commentary mixed in with true documented journals from various traveler's experiences. Her mouth moued in frustration, she returned her stack of texts to the Archive of Records and Miscellany in the Ministry, as well as a wonderful copy of the Ministry's History and Current Events of the Twentieth Century of Wizarding Britain, third edition.

Turning back to the lift, shallow heels clicking on the stone floor of the corridor, she finalized her plan, perfectly straight teeth worrying her thin lower lip. She had performed, checked, double-checked, reworked, and triple-checked her calculations to travel back twenty years and three months to September 1978. But how would she explain her presence once she arrived? Would she even be able to jump forward again and return or would she be going back to stay for the remainder of her days? And if she were to stay in the past, what would happen once time caught up with her, and there were two Hermione grangers walking across the Earth?

Did it really matter?

She chewed on her thin lower lip as the lift descended into the lowest levels of the immense Ministry, waging one last inner battle before the final call.

The lift paused and opened its doors. Hermione exhaled, straightened her shoulders and strode out and into the lab. With precise and decided movements, she grabbed the dormant time turner, and a few choice potions' ingredients.

With her treasures tucked securely into her bottomless handbag, she went back into the lift and moved to the corner of the coatroom on the main level. She continued on and abandoned the Ministry's shadowed corridors for the cloudy streets of Muggle London.

With a soft crack, she disapparated to Hogsmeade.

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E/N: Reviews are appreciated!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thank you for all of your reviews and insistences for more from this little plotlet. Here you go; I've bulked up this chapter.

Disclaimer: This is where I am punished by lawyers for daydreaming. Sigh.

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Hermione made her way through the drizzling rain, placing her feet carefully on the cobblestones. She moved farther and farther from the little Wizarding town, and closer to its caustic landmark. The Shrieking Shack had been silent for years now, housing no more full moon secrets. Hermione's eyes, dulled to the world, moved back and forth rapidly, tracing ephemeral ghosts of memory, re-witnessing the events which drove her to this decision.

_The beaker was suspended on a silver fence above the simmering copper cauldron. Harry sat counting out 37 Lacefly wing halves, while Ron recited the instructions from the textbook, " 'After you ass the lacefly wing halves, stir counterclockwise once, then half a turn clockwise , and then three times counterclockwise rapidly, as the Gloucester Buryfur Ash is poured steadily in.' As if that could , alright, Hermione. Sheesh. ' Let simmer for two and one half minutes before removing the cauldron from heat. Add a pinch the Buttercrumpet gold flakes last and pour into vials only once potion has cooled.' I wonder what happens if you don't?"_

_Hermione huffed. "The same that happens when you pour a pot of boiling water into a glass cup; it shatters at the weak point. Basic laws of physics. Pass me the Buttercrumpet jar, will you. I need to time this exactly."_

_The potion proceeded properly, until…_

_FIZZ-Splat! "RON! Hand them to me! Not dump them in!"_

"_Sorry! Sorry! What do we—"_

_Ron was interrupted by Harry's cry of, "Run! It's going to explode!" _

_The Golden Trio curled together behind Hermione's swift Protego, and flinched their eyes tightly shut. A neon purple light flooded the small space, before turning an eerie blue. As the light dimmed, they opened their eyes. Nothing seemed different. Everyone appeared to be their original color, shape, and state of being. Although Ron appeared to be cross-eyed. But that could be considered normal, given the amount of exploded potion lying across his freckled nose._

"_Eviscero." The muted green blur which had tried to hug Ron's nose dissolved in a puff of grey smoke and Ron exhaled heavily._

"_Thanks, and sorry."_

_Hermione rolled her eyes. "Nothing for it now. We'll have to scrap it and…"_

"_Harry?" Remus' voice filled the small stone room. "Hermione? Ron?"_

"_Remus?" Harry asked._

"_Where are we? How are you all here?"_

_Hermione moved quickly to her text, somehow intact, albeit coated in purple spots of fur. "I think by adding all those at once, we called you back Remus, instead of just making your portrait… But, you're not really here… Just, just your voice. Unless we're all hallucinating."_

"_Remus?" Harry asked once more._

"_Yeah, Harry?"_

"_Have you seen my Mum and Dad? And Sirius?" Harry's voice cracked a bit. "Are you all together again?"_

_The Golden Trio could hear the lycan's smile in his voice. "Oh, yes, Harry. Prongs and Padfoot were here to welcome me. Lily and Ted were there for Tonks. We're at peace, Harry, and we're together again."_

_Harry's smile was broken by sobs as Remus' voice faded away from the suddenly chilly room. The room had felt emptier once his voice had gone, even though the three were still the only people within it._

Hermione shook away the melancholic memory, and focused on the grey boards across the windows of the solitary monument. She raised a hand in salute, waving at idle thoughts, before turning and continuing on to the school, leaving Hogsmeade further and further behind her.

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Chilled, but being warmed quickly by the perfectly made cup of black tea-no sugar, no cream-that Tettle the House Elf had handed to her, Hermione made her way through the stack of books on her study table in the back corner of the library. This had been her study table through all her years at Hogwarts, and it felt natural to be back in here once more, despite the gap in time. She had been afraid she would feel too grown for her place of learning, but as every library had always done, sitting in this one felt like returning home.

Moving through the remnant of her past that overlapped with her present, and undoubtedly wound themselves into her future, Hermione felt whole for the first time in ages. Since long before the war. Especially when she had to make the tough calls, all she needed was her library.

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E/N: So, more coming soon. Please review!


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